The Vatican Information Service is a news service, founded in the Holy See Press Office, that provides information about the Magisterium and the pastoral activities of the Holy Father and the Roman Curia...[+]

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Tuesday, January 31, 2012

VATICAN CITY, 31 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Yesterday afternoon in Vienna, Austria, Cardinal Christoph Schonborn, archbishop of that city, presided at a Mass of thanksgiving for Sunday's beatification of Hildegard Burjan in the cathedral of St. Stephen. In his remarks following the Angelus prayer on Sunday, Benedict XVI had reminded faithful how the new blessed had borne "magnificent witness to the Gospel".

A Vatican Radio transmission dedicated to Blessed Hildegard explained that she was born into a Jewish family 1883 in the then Prussian city of Gorlitz, and studied philosophy at the University of Zurich. She married and, some time later following a period of illness, discovered the Christian faith and was baptised in 1909. She moved to Vienna where she became a member of the Austrian parliament, dedicating her political activity to serving the Gospel in support of workers and the oppressed, in keeping with the teachings of Pope Leo XIII's Encyclical "Rerum novarum".

In 1912 she founded the Association of Christian Women Home Workers, offering help to the hungry, creating a support network for families and combating child labour. In 1919 she founded the Congregation of Sisters of "Caritas Socialis". In her dedication to the family she also gave birth to a daughter, against the advice of doctors who recommended an abortion for health reasons. She thirsted after justice, seeing the Face of Jesus in the poor and suffering. "We cannot help people with money and small offerings", she would say, "rather we must give them the confidence that they are capable of doing something for themselves".

In his homily yesterday, Cardinal Schonborn noted that Hildegard Burjan is proof that sanctity is also possible in political life. She "announced the Gospel through action", he said. "Her beatification comes at a good time to highlight that action is a core issue. ... Hildegard was a convincing Christian because, without too many words, she acted. In our own time we must again learn to understand what it means to be disciples, and to this end what we need are not theories, but examples of people who speak through their actions".RV/ VIS 20120131 (360)

VATICAN CITY, 31 JAN 2012 (VIS) - Holy See Press Office Director Fr. Federico Lombardi S.J. today released a communique in response to questions from journalists about an article published in today's edition of the Italian newspaper "Corriere dell Sera" entitled "Dalla Congregazione dei Santi 1.6 milioni al 'Madoff dei Parioli'" (1.6 Million from the Congregation for the Causes of Saints to the 'Madoff of the Parioli'"). The text of the communique is given below.

"Fr. Francesco Maria Ricci, who is mentioned in the article, is a Dominican religious who works on behalf of his order. He does not in any way belong to the Congregation for the Causes of Saint. It must be made clear that Postulators are 'clients' of the Congregation, with which they interact in order to promote the causes they are handling, but they are by no means part of the Congregation. It is important, then, to highlight the fact that the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, its prefect Cardinal Amato and its officials are not involved in any way with the events about which the article speaks".
OP/ VIS 20120131 (190)

- Appointed Msgr. Matteo Maria Zuppi of the clergy of the diocese of Rome, pastor of the parish of "Santi Simone e Giuda in Torre Angela", and Msgr. Lorenzo Leuzzi of the clergy of the diocese of Rome, director of the vicariate of Rome's office for pastoral care in universities, rector of the church of "San Gregorio Nazianzeno in Montecitorio" and chaplain of the Italian parliament, as auxiliaries of Rome. Bishop-elect Zuppi was born in Rome in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1981. He has served in various pastoral offices within the diocese of Rome Bishop-elect Leuzzi was born in Traini, Italy in 1955 and ordained a priest in 1984. Before becoming a priest he qualified as a medical doctor. He has worked in pastoral care in his native region of Puglia and in Rome, and is author of a number of books.

- Appointed Fr. Vincent Harolimana, rector of the St. Pius X Minor Seminary in the diocese of Nyundo, Rwanda, as bishop of Ruhengeri (area 1,762, population 989,000, Catholics 488,000, priests 57, religious 82), Rwanda. The bishop-elect was born in Mpembe, Rwanda in 1962 and ordained a priest in 1990. He studied in Rome where he gained a doctorate in dogmatic theology, and is a visiting professor of that subject at a number of institutions in Rwanda.

- Appointed Msgr. Jozef Hal'ko of the clergy of the archdiocese of Bratislava, Slovakia, spokesperson for the archbishop and director of pastoral care for the Hungarian minority, as auxiliary of the same archdiocese (area 3,759, population 769,768, Catholics 484,749, priests 528, permanent deacons 5, religious 925). The bishop-elect was born in Bratislava in 1964 and ordained a priest in 1994. He studied in Rome and has worked as a professor of ecclesiastical history at the Roman Catholic Theological Faculty of Sts. Cyril and Methodius in Bratislava.

- Accepted the resignation from the office of auxiliary of the archdiocese of Katowice, Poland, presented by Bishop Gerard Bernacki, in accordance with canons 411 and 401 para. 2 of the Code of Canon Law.NER:NEA:RE/ VIS 20120131 (420)